Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and the committee secretariat for giving us the opportunity to discuss the technological universities at today's meeting. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for all the work they are doing in the Department. I am deeply excited about what lies ahead, especially regarding the establishment of a technological university for the west and north west, ensuring that Castlebar becomes a university town. This is a key priority for me. These new technological universities will be transformative for the regions in the context of balanced regional development, investment and innovation.

My first question relates to the Connacht Ulster Alliance application. I listened attentively to what the Minister had to say about a March application. Can the Minister foresee any difficulties? Have learnings been identified on foot of the Dublin TU or Munster TU applications? If so, I ask him to provide more details on same. What type of skills audit or labour analysis has the Department done on the regions in order to ensure that the Department gets the course options right, especially for multi-campus sites like the Mayo campus for GMIT? There will be a school of nursing there but there is also an opportunity to ensure that we have business, life sciences and tourism courses to reflect both the labour market and the local industries in the area. In terms of capital investment, budget 2020 introduced a transformation fund of €90 million. How will that money be distributed throughout the multi-site campuses within the TU applications?